O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 45-16-24 (2019)

Notification of suspicious or unusual deaths; court ordered medical examiner’s inquiry; written report of inquiry

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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(a) When any person dies in any county in this state: (1) As a result of violence; (2) By suicide or casualty; (3) Suddenly when in apparent good health; (4) When unattended by a physician; (5) In any suspicious or unusual manner, with particular attention to those persons 16 years of age and under; (6) After birth but before seven years of age if the death is unexpected or unexplained; (7) As a result of an execution carried out pursuant to the imposition of the death penalty under Article 2 of Chapter 10 of Title 17; (8) When an inmate of a state hospital or a state, county, or city penal institution; or (9) After having been admitted to a hospital in an unconscious state and without regaining consciousness within 24 hours of admission, it shall be the duty of any law enforcement officer or other person having knowledge of such death to notify immediately the coroner or county medical examiner of the county in which the acts or events resulting in the death occurred or the body is found. For the purposes of this Code section, no person shall be deemed to have died unattended when the death occurred while the person was a patient of a hospice licensed under Article 9 of Chapter 7 of Title 31. (b) A coroner or county medical examiner who is notified of a death pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall order a medical examiner’s inquiry of that death. (c) Whenever an affidavit is made and filed with a court having criminal jurisdiction attesting that a person came to his death by foul play, that court may interrogate and examine witnesses, if any exist, as to the necessity of a medical examiner’s inquiry. Should the court decide that a medical examiner’s inquiry is essential to the ends of justice, such inquiry shall be ordered by that court.

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(d) A medical examiner’s inquiry required under this Code section shall be reduced to writing and filed as provided in Code Section

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 6 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1993–2026 · leading case: Jackson v. State, 430 S.E.2d 781 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993).

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Jackson v. State, 430 S.E.2d 781 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 20× “" OCGA § 45-16-24 (a) (1), (b). A medical examiner's inquiry is an investigation into the circumstances surrounding such death, and may include an autopsy and other tests and examinations to determine the cause of death.”

Chapman v. State, 565 S.E.2d 442 (Ga. 2002). · cites it 2× “2497; OCGA § 45-16-24 (a) (1). See also OCGA § 45-16-21 (1.”

Clark v. Arras, 443 S.E.2d 277 (Ga. Ct. App. 1994). · cites it 4× “) Defendants argue that the autopsy was specifically authorized under OCGA § 45-16-24 (a) (6), which requires that a medical examiner’s inquiry, including an autopsy (see OCGA § 45-16-27.”

Wallace v. State, 915 S.E.2d 625 (Ga. 2025). · cites it 26× “7 such death to notify immediately the coroner or county medical examiner of the county in which the acts or events resulting in the death occurred or the body is found, OCGA § 45-16-24 (a), and the notified “coroner or county medical examiner .”

Gines v. The State (three Cases) (Ga. 2026). · cites it 2× “See also OCGA § 45-16-24(a), (b) (identifying circumstances under which “[a] coroner or county medical examiner … shall order a medical examiner’s inquiry of that death”).”

— 45-16-24(a) — 2 cases

Gines v. The State (three Cases) (Ga. 2026). “See also OCGA § 45-16-24(a), (b) (identifying circumstances under which “[a] coroner or county medical examiner … shall order a medical examiner’s inquiry of that death”).”

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